I jerk my head inside and say, “She’ll be right out. You want some coffee?”
“No, I don’t want any coffee. I want to make sure my sister is okay.”
I’m surprised by how much he looks like Sullivan, even though she’d mentioned that they were twins. They have the same eyes, same nose, and the same flinty look that says they won’t take any shit. I let him size me up as I get a cup ready for him anyway, knowing that I would do the same if I had a sister. Hell even more so, considering the way our first date went.
Sullivan comes out as I’m handing him his cup. “Ohh, coffee,” she says, stealing it from me for a sip and burning her tongue in the process. “Shit, that’s disgusting. I don’t know how you drink it black.”
“You scared me. You just disappeared. I thought something had happened to you,” Sam says, pulling her into a hug.
“I’m fine, I’m sorry. I should have called.”
He breathes out a sigh and gives her one last squeeze. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
He lets her go and she comes to my side, taking my mug. I steal a kiss as payment for the coffee and slouch onto one of the chairs in my dining room.
Sam watches with careful eyes as Sully sits next to me, mug in hand. “Look, you seem like a nice guy,” he starts, “so I wanted to be the first person to tell you.”
Sully’s shoulders stiffen. “Tell us what?”
Her brother leans against the kitchen counter and sighs. “They found another body while they were cleaning up the tornado. It was in the woods, near where the found the last one.” Sam angles a meaningful look at me.
“That’s impossible,” Sully says. “We were there yesterday, Sam. There wasn’t—”
When Sully breaks off and glances at me sharply, I say, “What’s wrong?”
“I—well I thought I was going crazy. I just, it couldn’t have been…I mean I was terrified, for fuck’s sake there was a tornado behind me.”
I take her hand in mine. I can feel my chest going tight with the urge to turn, to protect what’s mine, but I breathe deeply until it passes. “You’re okay. You’re not going crazy. Just take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”
Her lips quiver and I notice she’s lost the pink glow a morning of sex had given her. “Before you showed up, um, in the woods, I thought I heard someone screaming. I thought I heard someone—something—following me.”
My insides turn to a block of ice. “Are you sure you didn’t just hear me?”
“No, I’m sure. This happened before you got there. And this was different. It almost sounded like it was circling around me. Like an animal.” She pauses, glances at both of us before continuing, “It felt like it was hunting me. I brushed it off at the time, because, well I thought I was just hearing things with the weather and all. I just thought I was scared out of my mind. I didn’t know—”
Could the thing targeting people in Hillsborough be another shifter? I know there are others in town, I’ve seen some of them on my strolls in the woods, but I’ve never gotten chummy with any of them, considering my past. Most of them like to keep their distance. If a rogue shifter is stalking the woods, it’s a goddamn miracle I didn’t find her dead body like the others.
My muscles quiver, the urge to shift renewed. I placate that desire by lifting Sully to my lap and draping her arms over my shoulders. Just having her hands on me calms me down. “Of course you didn’t, baby. This wasn’t your fault, either.”
“Something is going on out there, right?” Sam says. “It has to be some kind of animal. A bear maybe?”
Sully and I share a look and I send her a wink. “It could be, maybe.” Though I know based on the markings that it wasn’t. It has to be something else. Even though I knew it wasn’t me attacking those girls, seeing their autopsy reports during the interrogation did help alleviate some of the guilt I felt. “Either way, I’m going to have to go talk to Red, cancel all the trail tours until the cops can get something figured out. In the meantime, why don’t you and Sam stay here?”
“I’d like to go with you, if that’s okay. Maybe pick up some of my stuff and let Nonna know that I’m okay. Would that be okay with you, Sam?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll just sit on the big guy’s couch in case this thing gets a taste for good-looking freshman, like some horror movie serial killer stereotype.”
* * *
Nearly all the streets are empty as we drive through Hillsborough on the way to my shop. The tornado had stayed on the side of the forest, thank God, so the majority of the city had been spared its destruction. When I get to the shop the windows are dark and the sign on the door says closed.
Sully and I jump out after I park the truck on the street in front. I unlock the door and call, “Hey, Red. You in the back?”
“Yeah, son, in the office.”
Relief spears through me. Red likes to roam through the forest at all hours. A part of me thought he may have gotten caught unawares and not made it back.
“Good to see you, you old sonuvabitch. Thought that tornado might have eaten you up and spit you back out.”
